I Got Reincarnated as a Minor Character and I Won’t Give Up on TS – Chapter 540: The Most Magnificent Magician in This World 1-5

The two of them dashed through the corridor of flesh where countless distorted ideals were reflected. No matter how eye-catching the dreamlike sights were, they couldn’t allow themselves to stop.

『Alright, today’s a yakiniku party!』

“Yakiniku?!?!?!”

“That’s a dream, idiot! Don’t stop moving!”

Beyond the flesh-colored wall, Mizuhi was enjoying yakiniku with the Fectom group.

Compared with the dreams of Miroku and Lusciera earlier, it was a much healthier dream, but for Toa it was a heavy blow.

“Ugh...”

“Once this is all over, we’ll treat you as much as you want, so grit your teeth for now!”

“Okay, sorry!”

“Still, the path is starting to change. We need to arrive soon—”

Only the Doctor noticed that attack before anyone else. Just as a transparent spear launched from beyond the flesh-colored wall was about to hit Toa, he pointed his fingertips toward it.

“Code 999: Collapse—Bang”

The alteration formula fired from his fingertips collapsed the spear from its tip. It also destroyed all the follow-up spears that were sent.

“A-are you okay!?”

“At this level, even I’m fine. Still... it seems this shitty labyrinth has entered its second phase.”

“Huh?”

“Angels are creatures of efficiency. Just trapping people in their ideals and keeping them comatose... don’t you think that’s a waste?”

With that, Doctor started running again. This time he took the rear while Toa ran ahead.

“That was your attack just now, wasn’t it, sensei?”

“It was. But that’s not all. From here on, I’m sure... here it comes.”

Another attack was launched from beyond the wall. It was invisible to the eye and specialized purely in the phenomenon of “cutting.”

“Code 111: Stagnation—Bang”

The Doctor temporarily stopped the entire space. A few seconds after they sprinted through, the stasis lifted and the surrounding walls were slashed to pieces.

“That was Touraku-kun?!”

“This makes it clear.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“From now on, everyone who’s unconscious will attack us like this.”

“Ehh!?”

“To protect the world, joining forces with your comrades to defeat the enemy... that’s one kind of ideal too. In other words, we’re cast as the villains who destroy the world. We’re being dragged into a stupid hero show.”

A silver flash closed in on the Doctor as he spoke, but he kept running as though he could see it, breaking the bombardment apart once more.

“That was the Professor.”

“Th-this is bad! You’re telling me we have to endure everyone’s attacks by ourselves?!”

“We should arrive soon, so stop panicking and run... ah, it’s on the other side of this wall.”

A giant flesh-colored wall blocked the two of them. Even while they were stopped, the walls around them displayed each of their companions, glaring at the Doctor and Toa.

“Wh-what do we do!?”

“Break that wall. I’ll buy time!”

With his back to Toa, the Doctor began dealing with the attacks closing in one after another.

Though he was a non-combatant, his movements were efficient, and he wasn’t about to lose easily to attacks from Lusciera and the others, who had lost their reason. That said, it was only a matter of time.

“Hurry it up! Is that stupidly huge heavy cannon just for show?!”

“Ugh, I’ll do it!”

Toa readied the heavy cannon. Fortunately, the area was filled with a vast amount of magical power. No—too much of it.

“—First Formula, release. Begin transition to rated output 『Artemis』... begin... ugh, I’m panicking and can’t converge!”

“How have you survived the selection up until now?”

“Th-that’s not because of me; it’s because everyone else was strong!”

Toa wailed pitifully and desperately kept trying to converge.

The many jumbled magical powers mixed together were forces each with distinct traits.

Therefore, with an ordinary Converged Bombardment magic formula, converging them was difficult. Unless she had a momentary awakening like before, as an ordinary Converged Bombardment shooter, she didn’t seem able to handle this magical power.

“Uu...”

“...Ugh, enough! Stop crying!”

Doctor operated a virtual console with his free left hand.

“I’ll rebuild a Converged Bombardment formula for you right now! Just wait thirty seconds! With this, you’ll be able to handle magical power mixed with Insignia power! Once it’s done, fire already, crybaby!”

“Th-thanks!”

Toa readied the heavy cannon again. Behind her, Doctor began assembling a Converged Bombardment specifically for Toa.

“Okay...! I’m doing it!”

“Don’t get worked up. Relax. Converged Bombardment is heavily affected by the user’s mental state.”

“O-okay... Huh?”

On the flesh wall beyond the muzzle, an image appeared as if to obstruct her.

In it, she and her childhood friend were embracing in tears. Even without thinking deeply, it was immediately clear whose dream this was.

『Everyone, you were alive!』

『There’s no way I’d die. I was just sleeping for a bit.』

『I’m the same, Toa-chan. There’s no way I’d take my own life and leave you behind, right?』

Toa, embraced by Mizuhi and Miroku, had her head ruffled carelessly by Clam from behind, then was hugged by Hikari.

『Well, you did your best, didn’t you? Not as much as me, who held off an angel all alone, though.』

『Jeez, Clam, you’re not being honest! Toa-chan, you’re a hero! Thanks to you, everyone survived!』

『I’m so glad!』

Before Toa, surrounded and embraced by everyone, the last person appeared. With her blue-silver hair swaying, she looked at Toa and smiled gently as always, spreading her arms wide.

『You’ve worked hard all this time. Good job.』

『Uu...!』

With tears brimming in her eyes, Toa was sent off by everyone and broke into a run. Then, with a flood of emotion, she called that name.

『Kei-chan!』

It was an dream that would never be within reach. A world where every tragedy had been undone. A false world made for a single person.

It might indeed be a dream. But it denied the long journey and resolve of a single girl.

There was no way Toa could forgive such a thing. She had watched that girl’s anguish from close by all along.

“...Don’t mess with me.”

Disregarding theory, convergence began by brute force. First, the Insignia fragments within her body resonated, and the magical power of Miroku, Mizuhi, and Nameless was forcibly driven into her. She pushed that vortex of power—which should by all rights have torn her body apart—into the empty space inside her, a space large enough for one person. Then, one after another, she forcibly converged the magical power.

“Don’t deny how hard that girl has worked!”

The magical power took on a golden radiance and sent flashes surging through the area. At the same time, her Dive Gear signaled that the formula was complete.

“It’s a first-time live run, but you can handle it, right? With my theory and that anger of yours, it’ll be perfect!”

“Of course!”

The heavy cannon turned toward the flesh wall. The formula deployed beneath her feet had evolved to be more intricate and larger than ever before.

“—First Formula, release. Begin transition to rated output 『Artemis』. Second Formula, link. Release the limiters on the Third through Fifth.”

The process was unchanged. The Doctor had done his job perfectly. So the change would come at the very end—the moment the golden light surging through the heavy cannon was unleashed.

“Move to firing sequence.”

She put her finger on the trigger and, picturing a version of herself stronger than she was, said as if imitating that self:

“A prayer to the stars—Artemis Ultima.”

The instant she pulled the trigger, Toa’s body was hurled backward by the recoil. In that instant, her vision was dyed by a flash.

“Whoa!?”

“Code 111: Stagnation—Bang”

Toa’s body, thrown by the recoil, was halted and caught. The torrent of light still pouring from the heavy cannon swallowed everything like a violent storm and destroyed it all.

Eventually, all that remained were a few charred scraps of flesh on the ground. About ten meters ahead was the control room for the authentication system they had encountered at their destination.

“It’s probably only temporary removal, but well done. Now, hurry before the flesh scraps return—”

Just as Doctor tried to advance, Toa collapsed. He turned pale and started to rush over, but the sound of her stomach immediately told him she was all right.

“I-I’m hungry.”

“You’re amazing, in a lot of ways...”

It wasn’t just that she was complaining of hunger at a time like this—more than anything, it was abnormal that hunger was the only problem.

“Even if it’s my own handmade formula, you’re getting off with just hunger and no backlash...? Are the Insignia fragments sensei embedded already turning into a new Insignia...? Hey, let me examine every inch of your body later.”

“Ehh...”

“You can have some sweets.”

“I’ll do it!”

Toa’s straightforward reply wasn’t drowned out by the sound of her stomach.

『Muchirins’s wall was broken by force?! That wasn’t in my data... ah, no, it was. If I recall, the world that was granted Goura’s Insignia also broke through angels by a similar method. Still, that girl Toa has lovely thighs. With those, I can understand how she defeated Muchirins. I want to bestow an Insignia on that girl. About a hundred of them.』

『Absolutely not—she’ll blow a fuse, so stop it.』